Home Made Cottage Cheese

Cheese is quickly becoming a new obsession for me and I am finding that it is super easy, quick and cheap. This cottage cheese took about 45min to make and was way better than store bought. When I was growing up my extended family would get together and spend weekends making sausage and perogies. This cottage cheese is the perfect filling for perogies and I think I even convinced my friend to try to get his family to start making their perogies using fresh cheese. There is only two required ingredients and the only "special" equipment you need is a thermometer and some cheese cloth.

Ingredients:

• 8 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• pepper (to taste)
• 1/4 cup fresh dill (chopped)

I was scared that the vinegar would leave an after taste so I decided to add fresh dill so that in the worst case scenario it would kinda taste like dill pickle chips. It turned out that there was no vinegar taste and the plain cottage cheese would have been great on it's own.

Directions:

1. Pour the milk into a large pot and heat on medium to 120 degrees F. Stir gently.
2. Remove the milk from the heat and slowly stir in the vinegar. It will start to separate.

 

3. Put the lid on the pot and let it firm up for 20 - 30 min.

4. Line a colander with your cheese cloth and pour the mixture through it. You can either keep or discard the whey (liquid part)

5. Rinse the curds under cold water and break into smaller curds with your fingers.
6. Transfer to a bowl and add your salt, pepper, and herbs.
7. I liked the dryness of the curd because I used it as a perogy filling but if you want it to be a little more runny add a splash of cream or milk.